A third of all people over 65 will suffer from some form of hearing loss. Thankfully, there are useful auditory devices that will help with the symptoms. They are not a cure for hearing loss, but they are designed to boost the wearer’s ability to hear clearly and resume normal activities. The benefits are discussed in the post below, including some useful information about hearing loss that you may need to know.
What Is Hearing Loss?
Understanding about hearing loss and when you may need hearing aids is a good place to start. Typical symptoms of struggling ears are:
- Not following conversational communication.
- Straining to hear during telephone calls.
- Turning up the volume on the radio, television, etc.
- Asking people to repeat themselves more often.
- Higher pitches going unnoticed.
If you are over 65 and have any of these warning signs, it is time to consult with your doctor to get to the root of the problem and find a supportive solution. Hearing loss is not the inconvenience that it used to be because, while it is annoying and demoralising at times, there are products and innovations that are a big help.
What Are Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids are small devices that sit inside or around the ear. Equipped with a microphone and amplifier, the designs may vary slightly but the basic principle among the options is the same. The primary function is to make sound more accessible and louder for the patient. They are suitable for a range of conditions including general loss of auditory processes.
Accessing the Right Care
Often, the search for care is a difficult one. However, seniors have options that they can access confidently. It is always worth a conversation with a doctor, but this will just lead you to a hearing appointment. Private practices like this one are set up to hold appointments in a flexible way and provide rapid support when it is needed. A private assessment will yield faster results and a more comprehensive care plan with better options that may not be available elsewhere.
The Benefits for Ears
The first part of the discussion about the benefits is how these devices have a positive impact on hearing capacity.
Regaining Abilities
There are lots of ways that subpar hearing health can affect the body. One big example is how one of the first things to disappear out of range is high-pitched noises. This is just one of the things that these devices allow back into the picture. It means you will struggle less with things like listening to your grandchildren speak, and this means the world to some seniors out there.
Telephone Conversations Are Easier
Despite plenty of businesses moving online, there is still a need for telephone conversations. Lots of seniors actually prefer to take care of life admin over the phone and also phone the ones they love for a general catch up here and there. If hearing loss is preventing these activities from taking place, then hearing aids hold an obvious benefit in this context. They will facilitate easier phone conversations and decrease the anxiety factor around strained communication.
Communication Barriers Will Go Away
This is also true of in-person conversations too. Struggling with processing noise, words and sounds in your immediate environment is debilitating. Communication barriers leave people feeling angry, sad, lonely, and reluctant to join in at all. Having a tool that will make these problems feel less insurmountable is therefore a fantastic solution. It will encourage socialization and detract from the likelihood of self-isolation, anxiety, and more.
The Other Benefits
Aside from what hearing aids can do for your ears, there are alternative advantages to consider as well. Everything from how protecting the ability to hear encourages better mental health and fights off cognitive decline is relevant to this discussion.
Protecting Mental Health
Poor ear health has a ripple effect in many areas. One big way it impacts life is prohibiting social enjoyment and engagement which in turn leads to an increased vulnerability to things like depression. Social time, relationships, and friendships are important at every stage of life, but noticeably so for the elderly generation. By targeting the problem head on with hearing aids, it is possible to make the wearer feel more confident to pursue going out and having fun again which will then improve their overall mental health.
Combatting Premature Cognitive Decline
People over 65 are vulnerable to cognitive changes and decline which manifests in different ways, for instance, dementia. While it may not seem obvious, hearing loss exacerbates the pre-symptoms and general decline of cognitive abilities. Therefore, protecting your ears later in life as soon as you notice there is a problem could just preserve your brain power for longer too.
Supporting Physical Wellness
Problems with auditory processing are tied to many other health conditions like cardiovascular incidents. By taking care of the source of the problem, research has found positive correlations between this and better health in old age. While seniors are more at risk of developing high blood pressure and high cholesterol, aggravating factors for things like heart attacks and strokes, hearing loss can be a warning indicator, and it can be taken care of easily through the use of these devices.
Busting Common Hearing Aid Myths
Many people are reluctant to try hearing aids because of all the misinformation flying around. People may tell you hearing aids are invasive and look garish, but this is not true in modern times. Lots of devices are small and undetectable to an onlooker. You might also hear that they are uncomfortable, but this, again, is not the case. Modern products are designed ergonomically so that the wearer barely notices they are there at all, apart from the major benefits to their hearing!
Hearing aids come in various shapes and sizes and have a lot of advantages for the wearer. Facing the challenges of hearing loss doesn’t have to be a demoralizing experience when there is access to
